1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wire routing structure of a high voltage wire which connects an inverter and an electric motor incorporated in a transmission in a hybrid vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, hybrid vehicles provided with two types of driving sources, namely, engine and an electric motor, having different characteristics, have been developed and are in practical use. In this type of hybrid vehicles, driving force of the aforementioned two types of driving sources are optimally combined depending on conditions, thereby making full use of advantages of respective driving sources while compensating for disadvantages thereof. Accordingly, dynamic performance of the hybrid vehicle can be sufficiently secured, and at the same time, fuel efficiency and emission performance can be significantly improved. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-58990 discloses an example of such type of a hybrid vehicle in which a transmission is disposed at the back of an engine with respect to a vehicle longitudinal direction, and an electric motor, power input-output means, and electric motor are arranged in this order within the transmission.
It should be noted that a related art of the invention is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-152470, in addition to the art described above.
In the hybrid vehicle mentioned above, a battery and an inverter, and the inverter and an electric motor are connected by a high voltage wire, respectively. Direct current from the battery is converted into alternate current by the inverter to be supplied to the electric motor. At the same time, the alternate current generated by the electric motor is converted into the direct current by the inverter to charge the battery. The high voltage wire is required not to break or be disconnected even if impact is applied to the hybrid vehicle.
However, although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-58990 discloses the arrangement of respective devices such as the electric motor and the power input-output means, descriptions on a high voltage wire and routing thereof are not included. Thus, an influence on the high voltage wire caused when the impact is applied as mentioned above is not taken into account. As a result, the aforementioned requirements of the wire may not possibly be satisfied depending on a form of high voltage wire routing.